The rich will be hit with higher taxes on luxury services

Published 6:40 pm, Wednesday, February 16, 2011

They are the poster family of Connecticut's Gold Coast.

Diane Lembo is a highly recommended, highly compensated cardiac surgeon in Manhattan. Each winter, she and her husband, Tony, an accounting professor, indulge in a monthlong jaunt to tropical climes. They spend summers boating with their two teenage children and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel on Long Island Sound.The Lembos reside in a $1.6 million home in Fairfield's historic Greenfield Hill neighborhood and have three cars.

If the taxes get the green light, the Lembos, a fictitious upper-class family from Fairfield, would pay $8,528 more in taxes.

A closer look at the Lembo family finances reveals how the proposed taxes could affect their budget.

Tony earns $120,000 teaching classes at a local university. Diane makes $589,097. Under Malloy's proposal, the couple's marginal rate would fall into a higher tax bracket of 6.25 percent. This means they'd pay $42,218 in state income tax, an increase of about $7,168.

There are numerous other items the family would now have to pay taxes on, including services for their pets and travel.

Rex, the Lembo family pooch, for example, racks up $66 in annual grooming services for his ruffled coat. The proposed tax would hike the price of his hair cuts and shampoos by $4.13.

It will also cost the Lembos more to visit their own salons.

The men of the Lembo family pay $55 per visit to the hair salon. The women pay $90. Altogether, the family spends $2,490.08 annually on haircuts. Add to that total about $160 in proposed state taxes.

Travel will also get costlier.

When the family jets to St. Croix for three weeks next winter, they will pay an additional $9.53 in valet services at Bradley International Airport.

Each summer, the Lembos like to take their children sailing in Long Island Sound. They dock and store their boat at the South Benson Marina for a cost of $2,096.06. Now they would have to pay an additional $133.10 each year.

Each year, they like to take a family trip to Manhattan in a stretch limousine to see a Broadway show. That would carry an additional $34.93 in taxes.

To protect his Mercedes convertible from the winter elements, Tony stores his car from December to April at a cost of $300 a month. That would climb by $95.75. When he takes his second car, a Lexus, the one he relies on each day, to the car wash, it would cost him more, too. Tony's penchant for twice-monthly car washes at $19.99 a pop means he would have to shell out an additional $30.46 in taxes next year.

Each year the family spends about $25,000 on special occasion gifts and jewelry. There would be a $750 tax on that expenditure.

Diane would have to pay an additional $67.50 over the course of the year for the manicures and pedicures she treats herself to twice a month at $45 a pop. She would also pay $75 in annual taxes for the $400 Botox treatments she gets three times a year.

This story was written Brittany Lyte. Reach her at blyte@ctpost.com or 203-330-6426. Follow at twitter.com/blyte